''Iphthiminus'' is a genus of

darkling beetle Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family Tenebrionidae, comprising over 20,000 species in a cosmopolitan distribution. Taxonomy ''Tenebrio'' is the Latin generic name that Carl Linnaeus assigned to some flour beetles ...

s in the subfamily

Tenebrioninae Tenebrioninae is the largest subfamily of the darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae), containing flour beetles, among others. Tenebrioninae contains more than 20 tribes. Description Adults Adults are robust, mid-sized beetles that typically have e ...

Species

Species within this genus include: *'' Iphthiminus italicus'' (Truqui, 1857) *'' Iphthiminus lewisii'' (Horn, 1870) *'' Iphthiminus opacus'' (LeConte, 1866) *'' Iphthiminus serratus'' (Mannerheim, 1843)

Habitat and Diet

''Ipthiminus'' are generally found under bark, especially in the rotting logs of

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

trees such as the

Ponderosa Pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine, is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...

. ''Ipthiminus'' has been seen eating subcortical fungus, fruiting fungus such as ''

Trichaptum ''Trichaptum'' is a genus of poroid fungi. The genus was circumscribed by American mycologist William Alphonso Murrill in 1904. Formerly classified in the family Polyporaceae, several molecular studies have shown that the genus belongs to the or ...

'', and rotting wood itself in lavatory conditions.

References

Tenebrioninae Tenebrionidae genera {{Tenebrionidae-stub